Seduced by the Celebrity by Jemma Jones Page B

felt that he was more than just a summer fling. Similarly, Ben was missing Chloe, moping about DC without her. On Christmas Day, Ben wrote her an email saying that he missed her and asking if he could come up and visit on New Year’s Eve.
    In the midst of throngs of people in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, Ben confessed to Chloe that he loved her and missed her, and he would be willing to try a long distance relationship. Chloe was thrilled, and she eagerly agreed. Over the course of the new few months, they tried to keep up weekend visits, but it proved difficult with Chloe’s erratic audition schedule and her waitressing job.
    In the spring, they decided that they needed to be together full time to see if things could really work. Knowing that Chloe wouldn’t leave New York due to her career choice, Ben offered to look for a job in New York. It took a few months, but he ended up landing an amazing job in the city, and it happened to start just as his lease was ending in DC.
    Focusing on the present moment, Chloe flopped down on her and Ben’s bed and she saw Ben hungrily eye her exposed skin. Chloe grinned, hiking her skirt up a little higher. Ben made a move for her, but knocked into the dresser, causing them both to crack up.
    “ Remember when I moved in here with you?” Chloe slurred.
    “ Yep,” Ben hiccupped. “You tricked me by saying you were only staying for the weekend.”
    Chloe giggled as she thought about it. When Ben had moved into what was now their shared apartment, she was approaching the time to renew her lease with Annie and Jae-Jae. Annie hated New York and Jae-Jae was spending most of his time with a rich new boyfriend. Chloe and her friends didn’t renew the lease and Chloe pretended to stay with Ben for the weekend because she was too afraid to say she didn’t have an apartment anymore.
    After the weekend had passed, Ben asked when she was going back home and Chloe confessed that she didn’t have a place and all of her stuff was now in Jae-Jae’s boyfriend’s condo on the Upper East Side. Ben had burst out laughing and that was how they had come to living together. The following New Year’s Eve, Ben had proposed and the rest was history. Though they had been engaged for a year and a half, they hadn’t set a date. Chloe kept waiting to land a “real” acting job.
    “ Do you know what this means?” Chloe asked excitedly, sitting up in bed and then leaning slightly to the left.
    Ben shook his head.
    “ We can get married! I have a job!”
    Chloe jumped off the bed.
    “ Woot! Woot!” she squealed, turning in a circle and then stopping abruptly as it made the room spin even more.
    Ben was laughing hysterically on the bed. Chloe shrugged and climbed into bed. The rest of the night passed in a drunken but sexy blur.
    ***
    Nine days later, Chloe found herself leaving their apartment in a bundle of nerves. It was the first read thru and she was going to meet the rest of the cast. She had agonized over her closet as to what to wear and Ben had urged her to go buy a new outfit if she was that concerned.
    Chloe didn’t want to buy anything new so she finally settled on an outfit from her closet. But then in the morning, at the last minute, she hated her choice and she tore off her clothes before throwing something else on. She had opted for her favorite pair of yellow skinny jeans with a baggy black striped tee and a lightweight red scarf wrapped around her neck. She finished the outfit with black flats, minimal makeup and her hair in a slightly messy pony. She was trying for a laid back, but still pulled together look. She didn’t want to look too stuffy and she was going to be playing a college student.
    Her stomach churning with nerves, Chloe made her way to the subway for the short ride to Manhattan. The production was going to open at the Booth Theatre, but they couldn’t get in the space until six weeks before the show went up. They were going to rehearse for eight weeks total. Two